Scarlet

To start things off, I ignore the menu for now and take a walk around the tower. Since before I set up my defenses, I need to know what the tower itself is like.

A process that takes several minutes to do. Less than I would’ve expected, more than I would’ve preferred.

Considering the countdown on the corner of my vision though, it should be fine. It does list fifty-two minutes remaining, so…

Putting the time limit aside for now, since I highly doubt it’ll take me that long to set things up, I head to the entrance of the tower while looking at the list of traps and monsters I can use. Because I have a pretty good idea for what I want to do with my tower.

The tower itself has five floors in it, with two floors being nothing but a long spiral staircase going up to the roof with some outside areas of the tower along that staircase. Where there is no wall. Meanwhile the first three floors vary a little. The first floor has several rooms that go in a large ring around the tower before opening up into the central room, which has a large staircase to the second floor at the back of it and a pool of lava at the center.

Most importantly, it has no roof. So the second floor is exposed to the first, and it’s the complete opposite of the first floor. With the central room being the opening and the ring on the outside eventually leading to the stairs.

Other than the tower, the traps and defenses are pretty interesting. I saw various different types that I generally categorized together.

There are movement traps that don’t deal direct damage but instead try to move the one who falls into them. Like walls that suddenly push outwards to push whatever is in front of it, or traps that blow out air or suck in air like a vacuum. Then there are pitfall traps that’ll drop monsters down a floor, traps that blow them into the air with, well, air, and various other types of movement traps.

After the movement ones are single target damaging traps. Things like towers that throw bolts of fire, ice, poison, and so on. Ones that deal a massive amount of damage and ones that deal very little but attack quickly. They can be hung from the ceiling, walls, or floors in the forms of turrets or even odd monsters that can’t move, or they can be real towers set up on the ground.

Then there are multi-target damaging traps. Things like flamethrowers that set an entire area ablaze, lightning shooters that cause chain lightning, and stuff to make the ground shake while covering it with a thin layer of magma.

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Lastly, there are support traps and towers. Traps and towers that poison, paralyze, slow down, or do any other sort of status effect to the monsters. That don’t actually harm them directly but are meant to weaken them.

All in all, a lot like a tower defense game. And this time Tar isn’t here to scoff at that thought.

I nod my head, satisfied with that thought before I glance down the list at the monsters while still moving towards the entrance of the tower.

The monsters are just monsters. Nothing more, nothing less. They include some flying ones, but most of them are land monsters. Some have ranged attacks, others don’t. And they really are just like monsters in video games.

Things like goblins, orcs, direwolves, kobolds, and so on.

And the prices of everything vary depending on how powerful they are. Meanwhile I have a pool of points given to me for free that I can use. A pool that I apparently don’t have to use all of according to the System Notification.

Stronger monsters, traps, and towers cost more points. Weaker ones cost less points.

Oh, and I can set up destructible walls that certain monsters can break.

So, again, tower defense game.

I grin when I get to the entrance, putting my hands on my hips as I stand there.

“This’ll be fun as hell!” I can’t help but exclaim, feeling far happier with this competition than any of the others I’ve competed in.

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I sit at the roof of my tower with my feet just hanging over the edge of it, swinging back and forth as I just watch the countdown going down after finishing my tower’s setup.

Five.

Four.

Three

Two.

One.

And I find myself teleported into the sky above some other tower the second it hits zero. Then I surprisingly find that there is no illusion blocking us from seeing the crowd right as the Fae King starts shouting, “And here we have it! The very first tower defense of the competition! Just as I told you all at the beginning of their tower setup round, the tower defenses will be going through the order of the competitors starting with the current last place and moving up to the first place from there!”

Oh. That means I’m going last.

How boring.

That aside, I find myself a little surprised but also not at the same time by the sight of the tower beneath me and the other competitors I see floating around the sky. Because this tower is very different from my own.

“Now, some of you competitors may be wondering about why Argento’s tower is different from your own,” King Oberon states as if reading my thoughts. “That would be because every tower is completely randomized, so no two competitors will have the same tower! But rest assured! Every tower is very easily defended if you know how!”

Right. It would be boring for the audience if they had to watch forty-three different versions of the same tower being defended, so…

My thoughts come to a halt when I find my gaze attracted to the ‘monsters’ currently approaching the tower. Not to mention the System Notification that appears in my vision with the purchase screen for ‘monsters.’

Monsters I quickly realize are just void creatures.

Interesting.